Shapeshifters
by darkhuntress10
Summary: Turns out there IS such thing as magic. Meet Azure, school prankster, friend, and Shifter. Her life is changing, and there is absolutely nothing she can do about it.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay, everybody SHUT UP!" I looked through the crack in the door, and saw a dark figure walking towards me. "She's coming!"

The 'she' was Lisha, the school bitch, complete with slutty makeup and popularity status. And this time, I was counting on her 5-inch heels to catch on the tripwire.

"Az," I heard the whisper as she passed our hideout, "Did it work?"

"I don't know yet!"

So here I was, hiding in a maintenance closet with my two best friends, Melanie and Devon. We were playing a prank that I designed, and I was buzzing with excitement. I always felt like this when I play tricks and such – after all, I was infamous at school for it. But I kept my identity a secret; only a few friends knew, and in school I was a smart-mouth who was an outcast. My identity as the prankster was the Ghost. No one ever saw me, and I never left a trace.

There was a loud _splat_, a shriek, and a whirring as the fans turned on and blew feathers that stuck to the syrup that covered her. Icecream sprinkles poured from the ceiling, and there was a flash as a camera took a picture and sent it straight to my home computer. She went running, cursing and crying, and we waited a half hour to make sure the coast was clear. Then after cleaning up the mess, we walked home and opened the photo. And busted out laughing. The moment frozen in front of us was priceless.

Devon was hysterical. "Man, Az, this is great! Do you want me to hack the school computer system?"

Mel laughed. "Oh man, that picture's _perfect._" She looked at me. "Look at her," she said to Devon. "You can tell she has a different idea," And I did.

My name is Azure Kita Mangiana, and I was a prankster by nature.

The next morning, I woke up with a smile. I sat at my computer and logged into the school computer as the principal. And edited the morning announcements. Smiling to myself, I got dressed, ate a huge breakfast, and walked to school. I met up with Devon outside the school, and he laughed when he saw me.

"You have that look,"

"I do NOT!"

"You do," he countered. "That one where you've done something brilliant and you can't wait for it to happen,"

I giggled. "Maybe. C'mon, Mel's probably waiting for us,"

We walked into the auditorium, and the announcement video started to play; I was wiggling in anticipation. It started out fine and I counted down under my breath. _Three, two, one._ The sound continued on as normal, but the screen changed to the picture we had gotten yesterday. It showed Lisha covered in syrup and white downy feathers, the look on her face one between fear, outrage, and humiliation. The entire place erupted into laughter, except for Lisha herself, and she was throwing dirty looks at her companions. At the end of the video, there was a note:

Hope you liked my little trick!

-The Ghost

The laughter turned into clapping. Eventually, everyone went to class, and I was feeling pretty good. Until my hair started to turn red.


	2. Chapter 2

We were walking down the hallway on our way to Chemistry, and Mel made a surprised noise.

"Why didn't you tell me you got your hair dyed?"

"What are you talking about?" My hair was long, straight, and black, and I wanted to dye it, but my parents wouldn't let me. They said the ear piercings were enough. The ones I got were bright green, to match my eyes, and I wore a lot blacks and grays.

Mel picked up a strand of hair and held it in front of my face – it was indeed a rusty red color.

"Is there anymore? Or is it just that streak?" I asked her.

She walked around me like a vulture, looking for more red. "Yeah, there's more. There are a couple smaller pieces, all around, and two big patches on each side of your head." She reported.

Crap. Where was this coming from? "I think I'm going to go home, and rest a little," I put up my hood. "You coming?"

She nodded. "I'll grab our stuff. Meet me at the front doors,"

I spun and walked to the office. I knocked on the door, and entered quietly.

Principal Davies looked up from his papers and smiled. "Hello, Ms. Mangiana. What can I do for you?"

"I'm going to go home for today. I'm not feeling the best, just kind of dizzy, and Melanie is going to come with me, just in case,"

"Okay, that's fine. Feel better," He said to me.

I thanked him and left. Mel and I were top students, and if you did well, the principal didn't mind you taking a day off if you weren't feeling the greatest. I met up with Mel and we walked to my house. Behind it is about 5 square miles of forest, and I have always felt safer in the woods than anywhere else. We went up to my room and I laid on my bed while Mel googled, "Hair turning red."

"There's nothing," she said. "It's all about dyeing it or getting the dye out. Are you sure you didn't get it done?" a skeptical look was thrown my way.

I shot her a look of my own. "I think I'd know if I colored my hair, Mel," my stomach rumbled. "I'm gonna get something to eat – I'm starving,"

I was craving meat, so got some leftover steak out of the fridge and heated it up. When it was done, I put it on a plate and brought it back up to my room. It was a good size, and when I sat on my bed, I frowned.

"I forgot a fork,"

Mel looked at me. "Just eat it with your fingers. It's not like I care,"

I picked up the steak and bit into it, and it seemed to be exactly what I wanted. I ripped it a part, and within minutes there was nothing left. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and went to stand behind Mel at the computer.

"You're finished that already?! Jeez, sometimes I think you're part animal,"

I just rolled my eyes. "Did you find anything? I'm getting tired of my hair color—" I froze. "Do you hear that?"

Mel looked around. We had music playing softly. "Az, what?"

Everything started to feel unreal, and almost in a trance I walked to the window. In the back yard, there was a full-grown silvery wolf. It had yellow eyes, and was looking straight at me. Then it turned and walked back into the woods, and only looked back at me once.

"What is it?" Mel's voice jolted me back to the real world.

"Um, nothing," I lied. "I'm gonna go and take a walk. Keep looking, will you?" I dashed down the stair and out the back door. There were paw prints in the ground, and I followed them to a clearing deeper in the woods than I've ever been before. And I wasn't freaking out at all – everything felt natural. At some point this occurred to me, and I wondered why, but I decided to go with it.

So here was this clearing, and sitting in the center of the woods behind my house, and I suddenly heard a noise. A set of metal stairs spiraled down in front of me, and what did I do? That's right, folks; I idiotically walked up those steps, and changed my life forever.


	3. Chapter 3

The metal stairs went up into the treetops, and I had the ridiculous image of walking up the stairs to heaven. It was pretty close. I reached a trapdoor that opened into a single-room tree house with a fingerprint scanner and a front desk. A black cat was sitting on the desk, its eyes wide, one green, and one yellow.

"Well hello there," I walked up and scratched its head, and it purred contently. I noticed a silver dagger next to its paw. It looked old, and I picked it up and held it by the handle the way I was taught in karate. I ran my finger down the edge of the blade, and the feeling was similar to an electric shock. I dropped weapon in surprise, and looked at the cat. Or rather, where it had been. In its place stood a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, with straight black hair and familiar eyes. One yellow, one green. Did she just…

_No way, _I thought. _Not possible._

I kinda stared at her for a while, and she cleared her throat. "Can I help you?"

"Ummm…" for one of the first times in my life I was speechless. "This might sound weird, but I, uh, followed something here, and I don't really know why… can you tell me where I am?"

She laughed. "You must be Azure! Oh, Mel's told us so much about you – she always has good things to say about you, and-"

"Whoa, hold on a minute, Mel? _My _Mel? How come she's never told me about this place? Who are you? And where am I anyway?"

She grinned. "Whoa, slow down. I'm Gina Valdez, and this is SOUP. The Shapeshifters Organization and United Paranormalcy."

_Shapeshifters? _My brain was still processing the information, and I wasn't sure how to respond, so I said the first thing that came to mind. "I do like soup,"

"I'm so glad," Gina chuckled. "Do you know anything about us from your parents? They should have mentioned us before,"

My mental defensive shields shot up. "My parents? What do they have to do with anything? They've done nothing-" I stopped in the middle of my sentence and yelled with pain. My vision went blurry, and I heard Gina calling for help before blacking out with pain.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up on a bed of feathers in yet another tree house. I tried to sit up and look around, and was rewarded with a splitting headache that wasn't just in my head. I tried to call for someone, but came out as an unintelligent "URRGHHSSMMMLL."

"Oh good, you're awake," a girl about my age came in to the room. She had long curly hair that was a dark silvery color. Her eyes were a bright yellow, and she reminded me of an animal – which, I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Gina will be glad to know your ok. How are you feeling?"

I groaned and attempted a sentence, but gave up. The girl put some sort of headband on me and pulled a small tablet out of her pocket.

The girl answered my unasked question. "It's a thought translator. Anything you focus on in your mind shows up on this screen," she held up her device. "Any questions?"

_Who are you?_

"I'm Corrine. You can call me Rin. I've been with SOUP for my entire life, 16 years in October. Gina is my foster sister, and I have now been charged with taking care of you while our scientists figure out what's wrong with you."

_What the hell is that supposed to mean? 'What's wrong with me'? Where am I?_

"Whoa, relax. We don't know what's wrong with you yet, but we'll find out soon enough. You're in the infirmary – It's not supposed to hurt this much."

_WHAT isn't?_

"Your first shift. You know, when you find your spirit or animal match. Haven't your parents told you anything?"

I hesitated. I'd never told anyone before, but I guessed it might be important to spill. _My parents are dead._

"What?" It wasn't Rin who said it. My eyes flicked to the doorway. I still couldn't turn my head, but there was a familiar flash of brown hair at the edge of my vision. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Mel," I croaked. She flashed me a grin before resuming her angry face. "How do I _not know_ about this?"

"Nobody does," _They were killed about 2 months ago. I've been taking care of things – forging paperwork and stuff. Someone had broken in and murdered them. I was at a sleepover, and when I got home, I found them. I burned them in the back yard, and cleaned up all the blood. I've been telling people they're on vacation. I've been sleeping in the woods; for some weird reason, I feel safer there. _

"Those are your shifter instincts kicking in," Rin said. She looked at me. "I'm sorry about your parents. Mine were murdered too." She laughed dryly. "I was adopted though, and I wasn't close with them,"

_It doesn't matter now. Why am I here? And why am I in so much pain?_

Mel shot me an uneasy look. "We don't know yet. If your parents were here, they would be able to help since shifting is hereditary," she laughed. "I freaked out way more than you did when I first shifted – my animal is a songbird, a cedar waxwing to be exact – and when I started growing feathers, my parents explained what was happening. Only one parent can be a shifter, and mine was Mom. She's a chipmunk, which is probably why we always have so much food. No two shifters can, um, reproduce. It _has_ happened once, and the baby had no control over his shifts,"

_Wow._

"And one other thing. We searched your house – relax, it happens to everyone – and found a record of you at your youngest," she hesitated, then looked me straight in the eyes. "You were adopted."


End file.
